9.30 and we’ve not yet had dinner

Well MANY fucking people have dinner at 6pm to 6.30pm. Clearly the people who eat dinner at 6-6.30pm don't have big important jobs with big commutes, like all you special and clever 'I eat dinner at 10pm to midnight' type people. Seriously you're not some kind of superior being because you don't dine til 8-9pm!

my, something got to you! It’s just dinner mate.

It's also a load of bollocks that 'Europeans all have dinner at 8pm (or later.') Know every single person who lives in Europe do you?! No, I thought not!

Do you understand social norms as a concept here? Saying mainland Europeans tend to eat later means on average they do, not that every single person has been consulted about it and confirmed they do. Bizarre.

This. ^

This 'what are you, a tween, going to bed that early?' sort of pathetic, sarcy comment is just one of many on this thread that is littered with shitty jibes. Like 'I am laughing at you right now saying you have dinner at 6.30pm, whilst eating my dinner at nearly midnight.' And 'who the fuck eats dinner at 6pm, I don't even get home til 7.30pm.'

Well MANY fucking people have dinner at 6pm to 6.30pm, (some even earlier.) Clearly the people who eat dinner at 6-6.30pm don't have big important jobs with big commutes, like all you special and clever 'I eat dinner at 10pm to midnight' type people. 🙄

Seriously you're not some kind of superior being because you don't dine til 8-9pm! (Or 10pm!) And I still maintain 6-6.30pm is a normal time to have dinner, because me and DH and many people I know have it at that time. My adult DC have theirs around 7.30pm, so yeah a bit later, but not fucking 10pm! Basically, there is no such thing as a normal time, but 6pm to 7pm is a fairly typical time for many to have dinner.

Fine, claim you have dinner at 9 or 10pm if you want to, and that everyone you know does, but the sneering and snide comments, and superior attitude from some of the supposed 'late dinner' eaters is rather ugly. The earlier dinner eaters aren't looking down their nose at you and laughing and mocking, so get off your high horse!!!

It's also a load of bollocks that 'Europeans all have dinner at 8pm (or later.') Know every single person who lives in Europe do you?! No, I thought not!

@Shimmyshimmyshimmy I don't have lambs to tend and am generally retired to my bedroom by 8pm. I usually fall asleep between 9 and 10pm.

Some people are tired, have poor health, get up very early like PP, have insomnia so struggle to stay asleep for more than a few hours at a time with hours awake in the night (me), have young children who need tending in the night, etc.

I imagine this accounts for more than 1% of MN.

We usually eat between 6 and 6:45, depending on the children's activities. After 9pm would have been a real struggle for me.

Who are these people? 🤔

So wherever you go for Christmas next year, it won't be there?

God how joyless, not a place I'd want to spend my Christmas 😩

I would have gone to bed and cried myself to sleep with hunger.

Oh god, that reminds me of when my partner and I went to stay with his aunt (I was meeting for the first time) and at the end of a long day she went into the kitchen to cook dinner at about 6 and it wasn't served till half 9. We were so hungry and I thought I was going to faint! We laugh about it now but it wasn't funny at the time!

That’s not always true either. We were once in a rural part of Umbria and the local restaurant was heaving of families at 7pm. We were lucky to get a table as we had not reserved one.

And this summer were in the Alps and the local restaurants were all busy at 7pm. And no, it wasn’t all Brits, majority were french and belgians.

@SabreIsMyFave but you’re talking about international hotels not local restaurants and homes.

no, the typical family in France, Spain, Italy doesn’t start dinner at 11pm but if you head to a restaurant before 9pm it’ll be empty. Or shut

If you go to Finland, most restaurants (outside of Helsinki city centre) close at 10pm. No-one there wants to eat at that hour. Drinking is another matter though…

I would have lost my shit then been mortified about it the next day 😂

You asked are you a tween? What adult goes to bed at 8pm ffs and I answered you. How short sighted not to realise that a lot of adults for many reasons go to bed early, my situation isn't unusual at all. I think it’s a bit of a reach to assume what time 99% of people on MN go to bed at or eat at, how very odd.

@samarrange yes 10 pm is perfectly normal in Spain. Remember that lunch is the main meal of the day and eaten at 2 pm.
I was in Spain with a Spanish friend this summer and booking a restaurant the options were 8:30 and 10:30. I thought 8:30 sounded perfect. "Oh 10:30 sounds perfect" said friend. 10:30 it was then.

It's not common for families to eat at 11pm in France, but since exactly one person on the thread has mentioned exactly one French family that does that (or perhaps, did that once or twice when the poster was visiting, which may have brought added complications in itself), and there are probably 20 million families in France, it doesn't seem impossible. People vary. A lot. In their own home they are not dependent on restaurant times, and not everyone gets up at 7:30am for work.

For what it's worth we know a Spanish couple who eat at 10pm, and they are by no means exceptional in Spain. 🤷‍♂️

Put up fences, watch TV, feed donkeys, argue.

I’m just glad they’re in another country 😂

Ha, are you staying with me? I ate my dinner at 11.05pm tonight. To be fair, I wouldn't do that if I had guests though

YANBU. I hate eating later than 8 or maybe 8.30. It messes with my sleep and digestion and I'm absolutely starving and end up snacking or getting grumpy. We usually eat around 6 - 7. I know that's quite early for some but it means we can eat with DC.

I’m laughing, reading this whilst eating my dinner!

we usually eat late, but not this late. DH was out with relatives, offered to buy me dinner, but didn’t get on with it, so I said forget going on to eat (at 9.30) went home but prepped some presents for tomorrow morning.

A tired one

My DH cooks the dinner and we never eat before 9.30, often 10 or 10.30. We both work at home and prefer to start work later in the morning and work into the evening (I am way more productive/focused later in the day/evening) so we can't really eat much earlier if we want to do that. I try to work only till about 8pm, but it sometimes runs over. On evenings when teen DS has an activity to be taken to we often only get back around 8.30.

DH often goes to bed by 11 (more physical job than mine), I usually only go by midnight. Especially now it's school holidays so no-one has to get up early!

If you gave me food at 6pm I would consider that a somewhat late lunch! Each to their own!

My parents have their dinner eaten by 430pm most days! As children we ate as soon as we got in from school but always had a supper of sandwiches, beans on toast or similar around 730pm ! I always thought it was 4 meals a day was very surprised to discover 3 is the norm!

My mum thinks it’s weird we don’t eat our evening meal before 6! It’s often after 7 these days now kids are adults but would never last till 9pm! Hope you’ve had something now OP!

I often go to bed at 8pm especially during lambing season when we can be up from 3 or 4am.

ok @HermoinePotter but that’s a very specific situation not applicable to 99% of people on here, so not sure why it’s relevant here on ops post about a late dinner

During term-time school weeks we aim to have dinner at 7pm. This is more usually 7.15 or even 7.30, depending on who gets back from work first and is able to start cooking.